Chronicles of a Fallen God King: Book One
by BenMused
Summary: An Angel Continuation fan fiction in Illyria's POV. Post NFA. A portal appears formed from dormant powers long gone unused. Old faces and New make appearances. Darkness and memories threaten to destroy Illyria. [Chapter 4 up]
1. Chapter One

**Chronicles of a Fallen God-King**

**Book One: To be Blue.**

**Authors Note:** Here it is, chapter one. This will hopefully be the first chapter in a series of Angel Continuation Fan Fictions, taking place in a slightly AU, and following what I believe should have happened had their been another season. I also decided to go along a different line, and have the story be told from Illyria's POV.

_Disclaimer: _I own nothing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, I just like stealing the characters and writing about them for awhile.

_Prologue:_

I ducked underneath another fist that flew towards me. As it moved past the top of my head, blowing my hair about my face and shoulders, I moved with lightning speed, grasping the arm in mid swing, and flipping the creature over my back and onto the pavement in front of me. My hands immediately flew forward to grasp at his head, and twisted quickly, snapping his neck instantly. The kill made me smile. I hadn't lost my touch since being defeated by that insolent immortal while I was supposed to be protecting Drogyn. Each kill made me feel a little closer to my old self.

Before dying, before trying to scrape my powers together, and finally claw myself out of the depths of death- and before being resurrected inside the shell known as Winifred Burkle- I had been more powerful then all of these creatures combined. And then my powers were reduced by the mortals to save me. Until now I had felt less then I used to be.

My skin was not my skin. My voice was not my own. My body was much smaller then it had been. My Qwa'ha Xahn had been murdered by Wesley as revenge for the death of Winifred. I was utterly alone and trapped with creatures that refused to bow in respect to me. Someday, I would make them pay for not recognizing me for who I was. Illyria; God-King of the Primordium. But for now, the fight was what fueled me. Watching Wesley nearly die after facing the Wizard had sparked something inside me. I had showed him Fred one last time, hoping to ease his time of passing, when a better idea had come to me.

Cyvus Vail has said something to me then, his words unimportant. I stood and faced him as Winifred, rage boiling inside the blood that was not my own. In an instant I was myself again, shedding away the husk that was the memory of Winifred, and had my hand around the creature's throat, holding him to myself. A look of unrestrained fear glared back at me from his yellowed eyes. I would not give up Wesley to the same fate that all mortals faced at some point or another. It was not his time. I- I was not ready to face the world without his guidance.

"You will save him." I commanded, my voice hard and threatening.

The red skinned creature chuckled, his voice raspy and desperate. "What makes you think I can?" He asked me. "The great Illyria, God-King, reduced to the protector of mortals! "

My hand closed tighter around his throat. "You will save him-" I repeated, clutching tighter still around my prize. I had no intention of letting him live even once Wesley was saved from death, but I would not let him die and risk being alone and without protection myself. I chose to ignore his other comment, about being a protector of mortals. It wasn't true of course, but even if it was, it was my business alone, not his.

It was then the magic began to swirl about the gasping form of Wesley, lights and color and noise coalescing into a healing mixture, seeping into the wound, closing it up slowly. The blood that had been spilt receded back into the wound, as if someone had turned time backwards. And finally, the wound was closed fully, and the body of Wesley lay silent on the floor. For a moment, I thought the Wizard had murdered him, and the place I assumed was my heart began to speed up. Until he coughed, and his eyes opened, to glance back up at me, holding his would-be murderer in my hands.

It was then I broke Vail's neck.

Next, Wesley and I had returned to the street outside of the Hyperion Hotel, as was the plan. We didn't speak as we made our way back, but I could tell from the way Wesley looked at me, that it was with new eyes. He must have been questioning my intentions. Of course I would never admit them to anyone- Including myself.

It was then we came to the chain link fence. Raindrops poured down on me, matting the things called hair to my face, which I brushed away, before looking at Wesley, and then back ahead of me. The Vampires had both survived, as well as the mortal- which was surprising, considering how Wesley had fared by himself. I could hear them on the other side of the fence, speaking of Wesley, and what his condition might be.

"I'm fine." Wesley called out, dropping down over the other side of the fence, having climbing up it by himself.

The group seemed to let out an intake of oxygen all at once, and laughed, welcoming him back into the group. It was then that I realized I would never really be accepted among these people. I guessed it was based mostly on the body I had been resurrected into. It had meant something to each of them, and they could never forgive me for taking it from them. Not that I wanted to be part of their group anyway.

I climbed the fence soundlessly, and with ease, dropping down behind Angel and crossing my arms over my chest. "Yes, I watched him fight." I said, with something close to pride inflecting in my voice. "He fought bravely, and murdered Cyvus Vail." I lied, not glancing at Wesley as I said it. I knew something of Pride, and I refused to take that from anyone. Not when it had been done to me.

It was then that we heard it, the many snarls and shouts of various demons, all recruited by Wolfram and Hart to end our lives. They began to enter the alleyway, one after another, each clutching a weapon of some sort. In my time, and in my own body, I would not have worried. These creatures were no more then humans- mayflies born only to breed and die at the end of it all. However, in this shell, with my new powers limited, something near to fear filled me. I did not wish to be destroyed so soon after being given new life.

"You take the 30,000 on the left." The one called Gunn spoke, sarcasm rolling weakly from his tongue. I turned to him, my eyes locking onto his wounds, the worst of which was pressed against the palm of his hand. His other hand was gripped around an axe, clutching it as tightly as he could in his weakened state. The memories that were Winifred Burkle's told me to feel emotion for him, which I suppressed with intent.

"You're fading." I told him confident, sure of my diagnosis after only examining him with my eyes. By his slumped posture, and the amounts of blood that covered his hand and shirt, I could not think anything else. It did not please me to have to tell him of his future demise, but I would not prolong his hope for life any longer either. "You will not last ten minutes." I told him, to which he only smiled as best he could and replied about 'making them memorable.' This confused me. I was unsure of how the passing of one set of moments to another could be more important then any other. I chose only to cock my head in his direction and remained silent.

Beside me, the two Vampires and Wesley continued to formulate a plan, while I observed the demons that rounded the corner of the alley, and began to make their way towards us. A dragon soared overhead and for the very first time since I had returned to this plan of life, I was reminded of my previous existence. In my time, creatures larger then Dragons had flown in the skies, and swam in the oceans. We hunted them for fun, keeping their bones and scales as trophies. The more trophies we claimed, the more respected we became. I had been very well respected. I would relish in the kill once more.

"I kind of want to slay the dragon." I heard Angel speak beside me. Had I been human, I would have frowned. However, I did not give up that easily. I would just have to beat him to it. For the meantime, I turned my eyes to the creatures that were nearly upon us. Angel swung his sword at the closest one, his blade slicing through muscle and scarred flesh, loping the demon's head off in one clean swing.

That was the start. Demons rushed upon us. We went our separate ways, throwing punches and receiving them. It was then that I got turned around, nearly losing myself in the battle, getting lost in it all. The demon tried to punch me, but I ducked underneath his reach, and grabbed his forearm as it flew over my head. I pulled him over me quickly, and after his body had hit the pavement was when I snapped his neck. Probably for the first time; I smiled.

It was then that another pair of arms suddenly slammed over my shoulders. I pulled my arms up and in between the muscular gray-scaled arms and my neck, keeping the demon from cutting off my oxygen supply. I could feel the creature's saliva falling down upon my hair and his hot breath poured out upon the flesh of my neck. His weight was pushing me downwards. I let him take me, bending my knees and submitting to him, for the time. Two other demons began to rush atop me, helping to end me. It was then I gathered my strength and pushed upwards under their weight, throwing all three of them off of me, and away into crowd, knocking other demons over as they went. I was in my own place now- as close as I had come to my former self since my powers had been depleted.

In fact, I hardly noticed that I was very near to being a mortal anymore. The fight seemed to do that to me each time- I felt free. I could feel untapped powers rising to the surface and gaining in intensity as I fought. My eyes fell upon Gunn, who was barely maintaining himself as he swung at the demons, his axe swinging and missing each time, but managing to keep the demons at bay for the meantime. It would only be a matter of moments before one of them wizened and tried throwing their own weapon.

I made my way towards him, knocking demons down as I went. Occasionally, I punched hard enough to break through their hides and break something that was important enough to sustain life, and they fell instantly, lifeless before me. "Illyria what are you doing?" Gunn asked in wonderment, not stopping the swinging motions with the axe.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, and replied in between a kick to one demon, and a punch to another. "I am saving your life." I replied, wondering what else he figured I might have been doing. I neglected to ask. I was barely there as I fought, my fists flying nearly of their own free will, my feet of their own accord. The hair flying into my eyes was of no problem anymore, and I found I could tell were the demons were, just by the noises they made as they moved. I didn't have to see them to hurt them.

Even though I was faring better then I had supposed before the battle had actually begun, I could not help but wonder how any of us were to last during the next few hours. Wave after wave of demons entered the alley, and I knew we would not be able to defeat them all. We needed an escape route.

As if answering my thoughts, lightning crackled in the sky, and silent thunder boomed above our heads. The crowd went silent as a shockwave of pain rolled over the creatures. The decibel of sound far too low or high for our ears to hear. They clutched at their eyes and began screeching and snarling, hoping for the pain to stop. In front of me, reality began to bend. Another bolt of lightning flared; this time directly in front of me. The light seemed to stay in place though, instead of disappear like it had before. The blue light spun in mid air, around in circles until the center seemed to pull inwards, forming a portal leading to some unseen place.

"I'm guessing you did that?" Gunn asked behind me, chuckling nervously and stumbling up to stand beside me. "You… You did do that, right?" He asked again, now standing directly to my right.

"I am not sure." I admitted, daring to take a step forward. "Go." I told him. In my own time, I would not have been so lenient to a mortal. But times had changed me. This mortal was the only one, (save Wesley) remaining on the planet that understood exactly who I was and even though he did not say it- I knew that he respected my power. I could end his life just as quickly as I could save it. I chose today to save it.

Gunn's eyes widened as he gaped at me. "What?" He asked incredulously.

The effect of the silent thunder on the demons seemed to be wearing off, and I could tell we were running out of time. Off in the distance, I could see Spike and Angel, each clutching at their ears, trying to fight back the pain that was affecting them also, trying to make their way through the crowd and back to us. I could not find Wesley. "You must go. I will follow, it is our only chance at survival." I said, grabbing the man by his shirt collar. "You do not have a choice." I told him as he tried to resist, and I pushed him forward suddenly, in through the gaping mouth of the portal.

A flash of light was emitted from the portal, and it expanded before me. I was almost drawn in against my own will, but I fought the pull of the portal, and jumped backwards, before it was able to draw me in. I would not leave Wesley to die here, not after what he had done for me in the little time I had spent here.

Angel and Spike were near me now- and they did not look happy. "What the bloody hell did you throw the suit into?" I heard Spike ask me, his hands still clamped over his ears, as if trying to clamp out the noise I could not hear. Why _couldn't _I hear that noise? I had to wonder over it. I assumed that it was because of the fact that I had been the one to conjure the portal, that I also must have been immune to its drawbacks.

I looked to the pair of Vampires without responding for a moment, when I spotted him. My eyes snapped to Wesley, just in the crowd past Angel's shoulder. He was struggling to push through the writing crowd of monstrosities, without being murdered as he made his way through. I set out to get to him, pushing past Angel, who grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. "I think I heard the man ask you a question." He said to me, looking down on me once more. I urged to leave him here, to fight out the rest of the battle for better or worse on this vile planet by himself. If he survived or not was of no concern for me.

"I saved him." I replied, wrenching my arm away. "Should you choose to follow him- I think it would be wise to do so now- before the portal closes." I glanced back towards the portal once more to see it's light dimming. If we were going to go, it had to be soon or our time would expire. Without another glance back, I pushed my way through the crowd, snapping necks of demons and knocking others off their feet as I went. I was not one to 'kick the enemy while he was down' but this was different.

Finally I had made it to Wesley, who only gazed from me, towards the portal, and back to me again. I followed his eyes, and was surprised to find that the portal had once again grown larger- nearly swallowing the building it had materialized beside. Demons were being drawn in now, dead and alive, helpless to fight it's pull. With each soul it consumed, I watched the portal grow once again in size, seeking to find and pull in its creator. It longed for me. I was not sure how I knew it, but before the portal disappeared for good, it would do anything to have me. "We must go." I said to Wesley, who only nodded and started the long trek back with me.

The demons furthest down the alley were no longer waiting for their turn to attack. They were fleeing for their own half-lives. They no longer cared that we were moving through the group, and instead struggled to break past us. The thought of losing Wesley in the chaos crossed my mind briefly, before I decided that I would not let that happen. I pushed him in front of me, and ran along behind him, keeping him in my line of sight at all times. And suddenly, we had broken through the half circle that fought to move away from the ever-growing portal. The blue light emanating from it was weaker still, and its draw a little less powerful.

Angel and Spike were nowhere to be seen, and I could only assume that they had taken my word, and followed their companion into the portal. "Is it safe?" Wesley asked me, knowing full well that I had been the one to create the portal. He still did not trust my motives; I knew that from the way he had addressed me, his voice full of concern for his more trusted companions that had already made their way through. "Illyria, where did you send them?" He shouted over the din to me.

"I do not know." I answered truthfully, and grabbing his arm, I walked him into the portal beside me. Time and reality seemed to bend around us as we entered, and I watched the scene of the battle being replayed a thousand times with different possibilities for each outcome. A thousand bolts of thunder flashed in the sky and the silent thunder rolled and shook the fabric of reality. I felt the pain then, and screamed out loud, clutching my hands to my ears and releasing Wesley, who I watched slip away into a blue abyss without me.

I was left alone, to slide through light and time and space. And suddenly I found myself staring into my own blue eyes. A copy of myself stood in front of me, her own head cocked to the side as she stared back at me, as I did so often. Her body began to convulse before my eyes. I was shocked. Was this some sadistic foretelling of what lay in my future? Her eyes changed from ice blue and back to brown, all traces of myself disappeared. It was Winifred Burkle who now stared at me. It was then I realized I had seen her death, and my rebirth played in reverse.

This was meant to show me something. What it was, I could not have been sure- nor did I have time to dwell over it, when reality suddenly slammed back into place, and tossed me out of my own portal, onto grassy turf. I stayed conscious just long enough to see Wesley, lying face down in the grass beside me, before I too was lost to the world.

**Authors Note: **Well, there we have it. The story has effectively started. Sorry if any of you think I've ruined the character of Illyria by giving her a personality. I just thought that this was something new and different, writing in her POV, and took it as my chance to really give her more of a personality and become more then just a character to remember the old days with.

Anyway, where did that portal come from?

What happened to Wesley, Angel, Spike and Gunn?

Where did everyone end up?

All these questions will be answered next chapter!


	2. Chapter Two

**Chronicles of a Fallen God-King**

**Book One: To be Blue.**

**Authors Note: **Wheee, into the second installment we go! I'm looking forward to bringing all of you fans fun and interesting story lines that will test and shape the sort of character Illyria will become in the future chapters and installments of this series. So, lets take a moment, and review, to let me know what you think about the series. Reviews are what keep us all going after all. 

**Disclaimer: **Again, I don't own the characters that Joss Weadon and all the lovely people on his staff created, but if you see a character you don't think was in the actual storyline in any of the Angel episodes, truth is, it's probably mine so please make sure before you use him or her.

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_Chapter Two: _

I began to come awake again, and guessed by the lack of light that much time had passed while I had been knocked out. I lay on my back on cold, dew-covered grass, my hair fanned out underneath me. One of my hands lay on my chest, the other on the grass. My head and muscles ached. I guessed it was on two parts- aftereffects from the battle near the Hyperion and also from being spat out of a portal hard enough to knock me unconscious. Me! Illyria, the once all powerful was defeated by a portal brought forth by her own accord! I bit my teeth together and forced myself to sit up to survey my surroundings.

Dusk was settling quickly over the landscape of trees and clear blue skies. This was no land I was familiar with. It was utterly soundless. In my time, that was never a good thing. My eyes struggled to scan through the dimming sunlight, until I remembered something. Wesley… My eyes turned to the spot where he had been as I was tossed from the portal. His body was gone. The grass where it had laid was untouched. Either I had imagined seeing his body, or he had awakened long ago, and wind had managed to blow each blade of grass back into its rightful place.

I doubted that was so.

I pulled myself to my feet, and scanned each horizon for some sign of where people may have been. This might have been my blessing in disguise- my escape from the oppression and close walls of the Wolf, Ram and Hart building. If I could only find a small town of a people to take over, I would finally regain my former glory as human and animal came to respect my power as it was forced upon them. I would rule once again. "Illyria." My name was spoken from behind me.

I spun around with my eyes narrowed, the most murderous look I could fathom pasted upon my face. Who dared ruin my plans now? It was Wesley. "How dare you sneak up on me like that." I hissed at him, and turned away from him, not bothering to spare another moment wasting my time gazing at him. His sudden arrival had put a damper on my plans. Because if he was really was here, that also had to mean that the Vampires and the other human had also made it here. "I should kill you on the spot." I said threateningly, and then decided to add to my tirade. "I _could _have killed you on the spot."

Wesley moved beside me, and to me cautiously. "Yes, I am sorry for sneaking up on you." He said gently, not daring to touch me. Of all the people I had met since my resurrection, Wesley was the only one who truly respected my power. While he did call me names that were beneath me, he did not dare to cross me any more then that. He knew that even in my weakened state, I could still snap his neck quicker then he could beg for his life. But yet, another side told me that I would not harm him. Not after all we'd been through. I dismissed it as sheer craziness. Something to do with that portal tinkering with the threads of my mind.

"Do you know where we have arrived?" I asked without turning my gaze to him. Instead, my eyes scanned the countryside in the dying light; trying to discern which direction we should head in before all daylight was wasted completely. I did not wish to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, waiting for whatever hell spawn that might be hiding in the shadows to strike.

"I rather hoped you'd know." He quipped back to me.

"I only conjured the portal from a small amount of powers I thought you had stolen from me." Wanting only to wash my hands of the situation now. "It was a stroke of luck on all our parts that we found our way out of there."

"How did that happen anyway?" Wesley asked, stepping forward again to do his own scanning of the countryside. "Where did Gunn, Angel, Spike, and the rest of the demons go? Does time flow faster here then on Earth?" He asked without relent. My head had begun to reel from the sheer chaos of it all, and I clutched at my temples with my hands. He seemed to notice me trying to contain myself, and placed his hand on my shoulder to ask how I was doing, his voice rife with pity and confusion both.

I knocked his hand away quickly, angrily for thinking that he was allowed to touch me. "I cannot answer your questions any better then I can my own." I hissed at him, my gaze upon him radiating pure spite and power. "You would do well to remember your place while you are around me. Just because I had the Wizard save your life does not make your place equal to mine. You are still just a mortal, doomed to die like all the rest. But he stole your time from you." I explained, standing and walking up to him, my face in his. "He stole your time, I stole it back. You are in my debt once again. One day you shall repay me for my kindness and generosity."

Wesley didn't move, or back down from me. Instead, he seemed to stand a little taller in my presence, straightening his back and his neck before speaking to me again. "You're overcompensating." He said softly. "Just because you saved a mortal, doesn't mean you're any less then you were before. Now, I don't have time for these petty fights between us here," he started, his vision no longer locked on me.

My eyes wide, I stared at him with admiration. There might be hope for him yet. He was not one to back down from confrontation- that much I had learned from him during my short time as one of the group. "We cannot stay here." I said to him, changing the subject. Already, I could tell that we were in trouble. I could smell blood on the air around me now, wafting towards us from upwind. My eyes shot in the direction it was coming from, and I began to move forward, walking a step faster then before. "I smell blood on the air." I said to Wesley, explaining the situation in a simple sentence.

He said nothing for now, and stepped into place beside me. Both of us were unarmed, yet we knew what we were getting into. Out of one battle, and into another.

"Maybe the others are there." Wesley said, his voice full of hope. That possibility had occurred to me too, and although I would not care one way or the other, it would have been a good thing to have a few more hands on our side in this new world that we were currently trapped in. Because even though Wesley did not know, I had no idea how to recreate the portal to return us to our home dimension. That kind of power was lost to me know, pulled from my aching and splitting body as I fell to pieces before them. It was the only way to rescue me from a fate worse then the one I was in now, worse then the death I had come back from before. This death would be final. It was a small price to pay.

We came to the crest of a small hill, to gaze down into a small valley below us. My heartbeat quickened in my chest as I watched the scene unfolding below us. The vampires were there, fighting against a half dozen or so of the demons that had been pulled through the portal before them. Other demons, the less brave, were fleeing together over another hill and into a forest together. The rest of them however, stood their ground and fought against the two companions. Angel had acquired a sword while battling, and after slicing the head off of a smaller demon, he tossed the weapon to Spike, who before had been unarmed and in trouble.

He caught the weapon easily and did his own 'slicing and dicing' as I'd so heard it put before. Wesley materialized a ball of flame in the palm of his hand, and shot it down towards the small crowd of demons below. The demon attacking Angel burst into flames as the ball connected with the flesh on his back, and he turned and ran, roaring loudly, right towards us. Our position had been compromised by Wesley's recklessness, and we were forced to fight now. Mostly we used our hands, Magic a far more dangerous form of attack at the moment, with a couple of Vampires fighting at our side.

My fists flew with a fury all their own, and I jumped from the ground, my feet spinning and kicking a demon away from me, back down the small gully and to the feet of Angel, who crushed his windpipe with the heel of his boot. Spike and Wesley finished off the last two demons, and then we were able to rest, our breaths coming in short gasps as we regained our energy.

It was then I realized something, as I stared down at Angel and Spike in the setting sunlight. They were not on fire. Why were they not on fire? "Why are you not on fire?" I asked, vocalizing my question. My head cocked to the side as I examined them, stepping close to Angel and taking his chin in between my first two fingers and turning his face, checking for any sign of scorch marks, or burns. He knocked my hand away impatiently, placing his hands on his hips and glaring at me with intense hatred. I was used to it, and instead turned to Spike, who did not protest as I examined him.

Angel and Wesley spoke over my shoulder back and forth, and I paid attention to their conversation as they spoke.

"Could we be where I think we are?" Wesley asked Angel. "I mean, you're not on fire, it's possible."

"And where's that mate?" Spike asked from in front of me. I was examining his neck now, turning his face upwards so as to get the remaining light onto his pale skin, trying to figure how this could be possible. His skin was still cold to the touch, confirming that he was in fact still deceased, and could not possibly be alive.

"I think we're on Pylea." Wesley replied, explaining what had occurred the last time they had visited this dimension. I guess he must have turned to see me there, and he coughed softly over my shoulder. "Umm, Illyria, what are you doing exactly?" He asked me.

With a sigh, defeated by logic I could not explain, I stood up straight and turned to him. "I was examining the Vampire, to try and understand why they are still alive." I explained, staring at Wesley. Surely he understood me. With a nod back to me, I relaxed again and folded my arms across myself, and listened to the rest of the conversation between comrades, taking in what I could for future use.

Spike coughed again, and spoke up, asking a question I hadn't even thought to wonder about yet. "Where'd Charley-boy get off to, then?" He asked the group as a whole, looking between us all, hoping one of us had news on the fate of the other mortal. None of us did. That was a blow to my ego. I had sent him through the portal before any of the rest of us had gone through. Was it possible that the portal had sent the rest of us to another realm then it had Gunn? If so, then it really was my fault that he was gone, and I doubted we would ever find him again.

It was my fault. And for the first time-

I was feeling remorse.

**Authors Note: **Whoo, another chapter done. Did you all like it? Please, please Review and let me know! Reviews are what keep the world spinning! Anyway, look out for the next chapter in the next couple days.

Where is Gunn?

And what does being on Pylea mean for the rest of the group?

Will they be welcomed with open arms?


	3. Chapter Three

**Chronicles of a Fallen God-King**

**Book One: **_To Be Blue_

**Authors Note: **Hmm, the lack of reviews is kind of disappointing, but I guess I'll just forge my way through and continue writing at least for a little while longer, hopefully more of you guys will find your way in here and bless me with a short little review letting me know what you think sometime.

Thanks to one review though, who took it upon themselves to kick me back into gear here. I was so busy with school and such, but since that's finished for the summer,I'll bearound to update like crazy from now on.I've got a new fire for this story thanks to you. The chapters will be longer from now on, and there should be more meat to the story. I hope this fic turns out to stay true to the Buffyverse for you.

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own any of the characters seen on Angel the Series. I know, I think it's horrible too, and I'm fighting for the legals over the characters Fred and Illyria, but it doesn't look like it's going my way at the moment…

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_Chapter Three: _

Pylea. I had heard of that name before. And just from the memories that I had inherited from Winifred Burkle either. I remembered that she had once been enslaved in that dimension, having been sucked through into it by her Professor who could not take that someone was better then he. She had stayed there for years, fleeing for her life from people who would wish to punish, torture and then ultimately kill her, had she been caught. But she had been smart, even then when she was all alone. She had found a way to survive.

Even though her memories of Pylea were plentiful, they were not my own, and also not the ones I remembered best. I had walked before, in my own time, and in my old life, through these lands. Although, as had Earth, the land had changed. When I had first visited the land, the ground was red and brown with dirt and lifeless soil. At first I had assumed that the planet was no longer inhabitable, and had died ages before I arrived; it's life all dust and bone by now. But I found a species living in the very rocks I had figured would never sustain life again, their skin green and scale covered; they were lizards. They slumped when they walked, their shoulders limp, and the ones who still had tails, dragged them behind them.

I wondered if they still inhabited this place.

"I have been here before." I heard myself say openly, sharing another piece of the past with the people around me. "Not as Winifred, but in my past. When I was able to travel through the alternate dimensions as I pleased. The land here has changed greatly over the course of time though…" I said, taking a few steps up and opposite hill from where Wesley and I had come from, not bothering to see if anyone was following me. If they were smart, they would.

As I rose up the crest of the hill, my eyes fell down onto I scene I hadn't expected to have seen. Hunters. Clad in animal skins they hunted a herd of creatures that frolicked together on four legs, their shiny coats glistening in the dying sunlight. They did not see the Hunters fast approaching, clubs and spears gripped tightly in the hands. They were to be killed with their backs turned, as cowards. Rage boiled up inside me as I remembered another scene from my past. My own death, where my back had been turned, and I hadn't been expecting it to happen. I had just been great enough, to have my followers find a way to bring me back into the realm of the living.

I started down the hillside, bent on destroying the hunters whose faces I could not see, when a hand grabbed my arm. I turned, expecting to see Wesley, but instead saw Angel. He shook his head at me, and pulled me back down the opposite side of the hill, to where we had started out from. "What do you think you are doing?" I asked him, spitting my words from between my gritted teeth. I wrenched myself out of his grip and glared at him, my eyes locked on his as I waited for a response.

"We can't afford a fight right now." Angel replied, the same spite towards me just as fresh as always in his voice. "Lets just take it slow, you know what I mean?" He asked me, his face inches from my own for a moment, before he sighed and pulled away again, not giving me a chance to speak. "Of course you don't. You're all for the misery and suffering of anyone around you just so long as you get the answers you need." The vampire growled, prowling around me with his hands on his hips, his jaw set in deep thought.

"How dare you pass judgment upon me so quickly?" I hissed at him. I could sense Wesley tensing beside me, trying to keep me from a confrontation that was bound to occur, as Spike simply watched, his arms crossed against his chest. "You know nothing of me," I said sharply, feeling another rush of adrenaline and power flow through my veins. "In all the time I've been here, you've done nothing but try to hinder my powers and prosperity."

"Illyria." Wesley said sharply to me, his voice warning me, that the water I was treading in was dangerous.

Spike stepped in, and to my rescue. "Hush, let the lady speak. She's got a point, let her make it."

Angels voice broke in once more, this time directed towards Spike. "Spike this is between me and-"

"Enough." My own voice commanded to the group of men around me. "I grow tired of this conversation." I said, waving them away as I turned from them, my anger nearly reaching its breaking point. Suddenly, I could feel my own powers grow and expand, escaping my own grasp. I wasn't sure what I had done until I turned to back, to see the three men, completely frozen in time along with a flock of birds that soared above their heads, and the leaves of the trees also. My heartbeat skipped for a moment as I realized what I'd done. What I'd been able to do here.

My powers had grown in this new dimension again, surpassing even where they were before I had had them taken away. I had completely frozen the stream of time, for everything within my eyesight. With one quick, proud smile at my accomplishment, I took my leave of the three, climbing over the crest of the hill to look down the other side again. The hunters had finished their ugly deeds now, and were carrying the creatures they had murdered in cold blood on their shoulders and back to whence they came. Keeping myself out of their own eyesight, and in the growing shadows of dying light- I followed the men as they made their way home.

As night finally fell upon the grove of trees I walked through, the group of men became harder to spot, fading in and out of shadows in the moonlight. They spoke loudly and without fear of behind heard, hoisting their own prizes over their shoulders every so often while they spoke of matters of the day. I didn't dare check behind me; for fear that I might lose the creatures path and be stuck in the middle of nowhere for one whole night, or longer. Yet a nagging worry touched the back of my mind, a worry for what I had done to Wesley, and the others. They hadn't followed me yet, so I had to assume that they were still frozen in time.

As time passed, the worry began to grow slowly. I felt my feet stop carrying me suddenly, and I turned back, to look behind me for the first time in hours. As I had suspected, only darkness covered the grounds behind me. The part of the shell of myself that was Winifred Burkle would have turned back, and gone to see if there was any way to undo what had been done. I shook the thought from my head. Sharing her body did not make me her. So I turned back to push forward again and follow the creatures back to wherever it was that they were headed, when I realized I couldn't see them anymore. I couldn't hear them either.

No torches burned brightly in the distance any longer. My head cocked to the side for a moment as I analyzed my situation with distaste. Could the creatures have slipped off to the left of the right while I had had my back turned to them? Instinctively, with my head bowed slowly, I slid forward softly over the grounds, as a hunter seeking its prey. I stalked my way down a row of trees, through waist length grasses. I heard nothing at all. The night was completely silent.

That was when it had occurred to me, that it was in fact too silent. Things seemed to have stood still in the tension that was the moment. That was when something had hit me—hard—from above. A form had leapt onto me, pushing me to the ground. Instinctively, I threw my knee upwards, between myself and the form on top of me, and kicked the warmness of the other body away. I rolled away; into taller grasses where I might have been able to stay hidden long enough to formulate a plan of attack, and maybe even glimpse my attacker.

"Stay down." A familiar voice called to me through the grasses. "They'll find us if you move." Gunn said, peering at me from between the sheaths of green surrounding us both. I stared at him, my eyes wide with shock. I knew that he had entered the portal before any of us had, but I hadn't expected that he had actually survived. The wounds he bore had been mortal, at least while on Earth. He should have been dead by now. I supposed he knew that, judging by how carefully he was guarding his life and my own now. But I paid heed to his warning and kept my head low, scanning the grasses surrounding us for some sign of movement. And then I heard it.

There were more footsteps, many this time. Whoever it was, it was not the same people that I had followed before. At least a dozen tall figures swathed with dark velvet cloaks walked about twelve feet from where I lay in the grass beside Gunn. I could not see their faces, but the men chanted in hushed whispers, candles clutched in their hands, which was stained a light red with the demonic blood that flowed through their veins. Winifred Burkle remembered these men, or men akin to them anyway. Priests, who held power in these lands. They had played a large part in the enslavement of the humans who were sent to Pylea. They kept them against their will, worked them until they were cold, and broken.

Winifred's life was alike to that of every other mortal, short and uneventful; at least until she had come to the City of Las Angeles. She had seemed to fit in well in her classes that she took and her job at a Library was going well. It wasn't where she wanted to be, or to go with her life, I could feel that much as I relived her memories inside me after I became aware of the persona that had once inhabited this shell before myself. She had had hopes and dreams of a future beyond her grasp; at least it became that way after I had murdered her. But it was apparent that she was pleased with the direction she was heading, until the day she found the book.

I could see her in my mind's eye, sitting at the computer at the front desk of the library, plain as day. A stack of books sat in front of her, on the countertop, the books on the top perched precariously at angles, so that the stack stuck out like a patch of barbs amidst pages of literature. Winifred's fingers glided over the small rectangular board with letters written on the smaller rectangles inside it, writing up a lab report on the importance of star strings in interplanetary travel in the future. I knew that only because I could see the words appearing on the screen before her as she typed into the night, her vocabulary one to match my own.

The Library had closed hours before, and the whole building was serenely quite as she sat at that desk, and finished typing, printing the essay out into the tray on the printer. With a small, contented sigh, Winifred collected the papers and pushed them into her bag with the rest of her things, and tucked the bag underneath her chair. She clicked out of the file on the screen of the computer, and shut down the computer before moving on to the stack of books residing on the countertop.

Glaring at the books with a severe dislike, Fred collected a stack of them in her hands and headed off into the stacks to shelf the books. The rest of the books in her hand went by fairly quickly, as Winifred was quick with finding the correct place for things. And finally, she was left with one last book in her hands. She frowned behind her glasses as she surveyed the leather cover with the embossed symbol on the cover. She'd never seen this book before.

"Must be one of those new age Horror novels or somethin'," Winifred said softly to herself, her fingers grazing the cover. Her boss had said that they were expecting some new books to come in soon. This one had to be one of the new ones. Funny, she hadn't seen any packages arrive during the day. Her curiosity piqued, Winifred opened the cover of the book, to a random page in near the center. A passage of text stood out, the letters bolded against the rest. "What the…" she muttered to herself, grazing her hand over the text, which wasn't English at all.

She muttered the words aloud to herself, cradling the book in her open palms as she tried to decipher the meaning of the vowel less words. Soon, she was nearing the end of passage, and a sudden light from behind her enveloped her, and a force grabbed at her insides, and felt like it was yanking them from her—using her insides to hoist her upwards from the ground, and into a new world, the book ripped from her hands, where it fell onto the floor, closed and looking no less devious then any other book they had encountered.

Winifred was shaken awake violently by equally enthusiastic hands. For a moment she wasn't sure what had happened to her, and while her eyes were closed she suspected it was all just some horrible dream. But the hands pushing at her became more urgent, nearly strangling her. "Alright, I'm awake." She spoke softly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her glasses were beside her on the blurred table. She reached for them groggily, and placed them on the bridge of her nose as she yawned in sleep.

Suddenly, she gasped and nearly fell from the straw bed she was sitting in. A creature with pale pinkish skin sat in front of her, its skin slimy and cold against the skin on her neck. It was then that Winifred realized she wasn't being shaken awake at all. Instead, a cool metal collar was being clasped around her slender neck- the collar that would keep her prisoner for years on Pylea. The first few hours went by in a daze of horrifying confusion and pain as the pink skinned creature, which for some reason kept calling her 'cow', dragged her around the old, medieval style town. Each time that Winifred began to say something, a sharp pain expanded across her neck from the collar, and hit her spine, temporarily immobilizing her from the pain. It didn't take her long to realize not to speak.

She saw others like herself, men and women in rags of clothing, similar collars to her own snapped around their necks. None of them looked her in the eye as they passed, instead keeping their eyes on the floor and following their own masters. Nothing was making sense anymore. What had reading that book done to her? She didn't have time to dwell on it, when the male creature she was following suddenly spoke.

"Head up cow," The crackly voice of her master called out to her, stopped in front of her. The two stood at the gates of a large castle, looming ominously over their heads. It was the first castle Winifred had ever seen, and she stared at it with her eyes wide and jaw agape. "The priests are going to want a look at you. Strange thing it was, a cow falling from the sky and into my barn. Damn near killed my prize sow. Maybe I should just tell them you did." He said in retrospect, his eyes distant as he mulled over what he should do. " 'Only good cow, is a dead cow' I always say." He added, as the gates to the castle opened before them. "But, no. The priests are going to want to see you." He repeated, taking Winifred by the arm, and pulling her foreword roughly.

"Illyria." Gunn said softly, his hand on my arm, tugging me roughly as he tried to pick me up. I was still half buried in Winifred Burkle's past and the feeling of the hand on my arm immediately brought up my defenses. Had I not been more tied to reality, I could have taken the life of the mortal who dared place his hands on me. All I could feel was Winifred's fear of the moment, and the grip on my arm was all too familiar. Suddenly I was back- staring into the eyes of Charles Gunn as he tried desperately to pull me to my feet. "Geez, did you fall asleep or something?" He asked me.

I chose not to reply to him, and scanned the grasses once more. Any hint of the Priests was gone now, seeming to have melted into the shadows. "I know of those men." I told Gunn, looking back to where the cloaked men had walked past us before.

"You too, huh?" He asked me, turning away and leaning against the nearest tree, trying to catch some sort of movement in the night. "I thought we'd gotten rid of them the last time we were here though." He said, more to himself then to me. "But whatever's the case, things have defiantly changed around here." Gunn seemed to be lost in thoughts now, and seemed more in his own memories then in reality. "What took you guys so long?" He asked suddenly, turning back to me, his eyes shining with a fierce intensity.

"How long have you been here without us?" I asked him, hoping that the answer would be 'hours', and not any time longer.

"Long enough." Gunn said, stepping closer to me again.

It was then that I noticed the collar around his neck.

**xXx

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**Authors Note: **Well, there you have it; another chapter, and more mystery thrown in. I took a little bit of artistic license with the memories of Fred before she was sent to Pylea, because that was never really explored in Angel, and I thought it would be nice to show just how connected Illyria secretly feels to Fred.

I also decided to bring the Priests back to Pylea again. I mean, it was clear when Groosalugg came to LA for the first time that things had changed for the worst in that dimension, and there's no reason why other priests wouldn't be out there somewhere. And in the Pylea episodes of Angel, they were by far the greatest threat in Pylea, so it would make sense that there was more then just one sect of them.

Let me know what you think of this chapter.

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	4. Chapter Four

**Chronicles of a Fallen God-King**

**Book One: **_To Be Blue_

**Authors Note: **Whoo, I'm on a roll here. Now that I've started to update, more and more ideas for this story keep coming to me. I've really got some more big surprises in store for you guys over the rest of this Angel: The Series continuation. Please let me know what you think of it.

**Disclaimer: **Same as last time.

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_Chapter Four: _

My eyes widened as they locked on the collar snapped around Charles Gunn's neck. I crossed the gap between us in two steps, and reached forward towards the cool metal. Gunn flinched back away from my hand, as if afraid the slightest touch would set the mechanism off, and sever his head from his shoulders. I stayed my hand for a moment, and looked up at him with clear eyes. He seemed to get the message that I wouldn't do anything to endanger his life, and relaxed his tense muscles for a moment. It was with the tender grace of Winifred Burkle's hand that I reached out with and carefully touched the cold metal around his neck.

The metal in the back seemed to be sealed together with magic that I guessed even I would not be able to break with just brute strength. When Winifred had worn her own collar, it had been a lucky mistake that had disabled the device and not by her own skill. I could not do anything to help in this situation. "When did this happen to you?" I asked him, letting the collar drop from my hands.

"A few hours ago." Gunn responded, letting out a breath that he had seemed to be holding as I held the collar in my hands. "Where have you guys been anyway? I've been here for nearly a day." The news caused my heart to fuel its pace, speeding up and pounding against my chest. "Who knew that falling into the town square down there would get me noticed?" He continued on without waiting for my own answer, sarcasm thick against the anger in his voice. "The one who got to me first snapped this thing around my neck and forced me back to its humble abode for some manual labor. I'm supposed to be in the barns right now, but I had to get out and find one of you guys." He explained.

"It took us longer then expected to get through the portal after you." I told him, unable to express any true emotion towards the situation. "I didn't expect that so much time had passed between arrivals. I also am not sure what caused the switching of locations to where we arrived." I said aloud, more to myself as I tried to settle the matter internally. Something was not right here. It felt too much like a trap, far too well planned by some outside force to have been just another horrible coincidence that always seemed to happen since I had been resurrected. My mind returned to the priests for a brief second, as they walked past us with candles in their hands. Except, this time I could see more that I had missed before. They were holding something else in their free hands. Orbs. Glowing red, and blue, and green. How could I have missed that before? "I do not like this situation." I told Gunn suddenly. I wasn't sure if I had fabricated seeing the orbs in my imagination, or if it really was something to be taken seriously, but I tucked the knowledge into the back of my mind for the time being.

"Neither do I, and I gotta' get back to that farm." The dark man replied stepping away from me. "Now that you know, you have to find Angel and the others, let them know what's going on." After he spoke, it seemed that something clicked in his mind and he turned back to me again. "Where- Where is Angel anyway? You do know where they are?" His voice sounded desperate, tugging at the last strands of hope for life and salvation.

I didn't know what to say for a moment, and chose to look at my hands, which provided a good escape for a moment. "More or less." I finally replied. I had no idea if they were still frozen in time, and if they were, what could I do to release them? I had no control over my own powers in this land, but I could not bring myself to break the news to Gunn. For a moment we stared at each other, silently contemplating what the possible next step would be in finding a way to get ourselves out of this situation. "I should go." I told him, nodding my head assuredly.

"Yeah." Gunn replied simply, and after another moment of glancing at me, as if trying to discern what my intentions were, he turned and began to walk away before stopping and looking back at me again after he'd gotten a good ten feet away. "If you can't find the others tonight, go to the West, find a cave between the rocks." He instructed. "A part of you knows where I'm talking about." He said, and suddenly, a picture of Winifred appeared in my mind. She sat crouched in cave, her salvation, scribbling on the walls with rocks, trying hopelessly to create a way of escape for herself.

"I do." I told him, before turning and running away from him into darkness and shadow.

**xXx**

Pylea: 1996 

_Things are strange here. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Since I woke up in this place it's been like one of those rides in Universal I threw up on when I went there with my parents when I was 7. Except, I don't think they have those here. I don't know how exactly I got here either really, except I know it had something to do with that strange book. Not exactly a new age horror novel like I'd guessed I suppose. Probably shouldn't have read it aloud either, although it had seemed harmless enough at the time. I'm not even sure how long I was knocked out for, but that book sure packed a punch! _

_And waking up here hasn't made anything easier, that's for sure. The people here seem to have some form of leprosy or something, and their skin seems to hang off their bones and muscles more then it should. I'm trying not to let them touch me as best I can, I don't wanna catch it after all. I even think I've seen some people with green skin here, but I can't be positive. All I know is that I have to find some way to call home or somethin'. Momma and Daddy are gonna kill me if I don't call. What am I sayin'? They don't even know I'm gone yet. _

_What am I gonna do? _

"_Move it cow." The man called to me, his voice gruff enough to snap me harshly back into reality. The guards at the door to the castle didn't seem pleased to see me. What am I doin' here? And why am I being called 'cow'? This all is so strange. I felt the pink skinned man's hand on my arm, gripping way tighter then he needed to. He began pulling me foreword towards the doors by my arm, keeping me close like I was some prize he just couldn't help but show want to show around to everybody at his country club. At least this was nicer then whatever he did with the collar around my neck to hurt me every so often. _

_What was this collar around my neck for? I wasn't into all that weird sexual stuff. Hell, I'd barely ever even done anything sexual with a boy besides a little kissing while I was in High School. But when I'd tried to explain that to this man, he'd only done something to make this shooting pain go up and down my spine. It'd happened so many times now- like when I spoke-that I was really beginning to get used to it. But it still hurt enough to shut me up. _

_I followed him soundlessly through the oak doors and past that guards, who wore metal helmets that looked more like buckets fashioned with slats for their eyes to peek through. Rather foolish if you ask me. This whole place was foolish. I'd determined that all these people were dressed up, or suffered from horrible diseases. Either way it was foolish that they were walking around the way they looked. I didn't have long to dwell on it, when suddenly I was stepping over the threshold and into a wide entrance corridor with a tall vaulted ceiling. Hallways broke off to the left and right, with doors scattered about the room. A long staircase was located at the other end of the room, past large pillars that were big enough around for half of the Varsity Football team to have trouble reaching across if they were holding hands. To sum it up, the place was immense. _

_More of the strange skinned men and women walked past me, glaring at me like I was the plague they already had. But another person caught my eye. There was a girl walking down the stairs. She was human like myself, and carrying a large bucket of water and a sponge. The bucket knocked against her thigh with every step she took down the flight of stairs, sloshing water over her raggedy dress. She kept her head down, towards the floor, but I could clearly see the metal of the collar she wore around her neck. She made it to the bottom of the floor, and settled down at the base of the steps as we walked towards the stairs, and dipped the sponge into the bucket of water and began to scrub the floor clean. My heart skipped a beat as realization settled over me. I was going to be a slave for them. _

_As we neared the girl, the man I was with spoke to her. "Out of the way cow," He said, kicking out at her hand. She just managed to pull it back in time, and his foot connected with the bucket of water, spilling its contents onto the floor. His shoe and pants were splashed with water. The man quickly jumped to higher ground on the first step, and released my arm. "You'll pay for that cow." He said threateningly to the girl, who looked on the verge of tears. _

"_Hey!" I said suddenly, forgetting my place entirely, and every bit of manners I had been taught by my parents and kneeling down next to the girl. "You can't talk to her like that." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. The blonde girls' eyes locked onto mine, wide and full of fear. She seemed to be warning me, telling me to leave her alone silently. Suddenly, the man was back at my side. _

"_You'd do well to remember your place while here." His voice whispered in my ear, full of malice. Suddenly I felt his hand wrapping in my hair, and pulling sharply; yanking me to my feet. _

_It was then it really began to set in for me, that I wasn't in Las Angeles anymore, I didn't even know if I was on Earth anymore either. _

**xXx**

My head ached as I progressed into the night and backtracked towards where I had left the others. I had been fine before leaving Gunn, but now, after the memory of Winifred's pain, my own had manifested in its place. The thought sent a slight chill down my spine; she couldn't possibly have any control over what I felt. She was long dead, and naught but memory now. Yet the pounding in my head told me differently. The more I remembered of her, the more real she seemed to become in my head, until I could almost hear her, whispers of herself in the threads of my mind. I pushed the thought away. It wasn't possible. I wouldn't let it be possible.

A low growl to my left alerted me to the attack just before a left hook powerful enough to knock me from my feet would have hit me. I ducked under the attack and thrust my own left hand out, palm up, to slam into the demon's chest hard enough to shatter ribs, perhaps causing some internal bleeding. I didn't stop my own attack, and jumped up quickly, grabbing the demon around the neck and pulling upwards, dislocating the base of his neck from his spine. With a gurgle, the creature fell limp and I tossed the body down to my feet. It was obviously a demon from the battle in Las Angeles. If that demon had survived, how many others had also?

Suddenly, a body slammed against me for the second time that night. This was less friendly, I could tell from the fists slamming into my side repeatedly as an arm held me around the waist. The pain was central around my stomach though, and I was able to block it away long enough to pull back my own fist, and slam it into the other demon's nose, shattering the cartilage and knocking it back away from me.

This demon was the same as the last; blue skinned and tough looking, with bulging muscles and a strong disposition towards myself. He seemed nearly unfazed by his wound, and glared at me past blood spattered yellow eyes before lunging again. I sidestepped him easily, drawing a new line of combat and thrust my leg out, kicking him in the small of the back. His groan of pain shook the nearly silent night and he clutched at his back. For a moment, I suspected I had broken it, but he began to stir again, drawing a small dagger from a pouch on fastened into his dark leather clothing.

Nothing is ever easy, I reminded myself as I carefully dodged each attack from the demon, leaning away from his wide strikes. It was simple enough to just reach up and grab his arm after a particularly wide swing and bring it down onto my kneecap. I could hear the telltale noise of bones shattering, and the demon roared out in pain, nearly dropping the knife. I caught the weapon before it hit the ground, and plunged it into the demon's throat, stifling his screams of pain before he could call any more reinforcements.

With my final rival destroyed, I cleaned the weapon on the Demon's clothing before tucking it away into my boot, planning on keeping something for my defense in this land that had proved to be nothing but trouble for everyone I know associated with it.

The sun was rising now, dim grayish light bathing the trees and grasses in a light no stronger then that of the moon. I couldn't wait any longer. Finding the others before daybreak would be critical. I forced myself to keep moving, going back in the direction I thought I had come from. The pain in my head had receded now, replaced by the ach of my body from the beating I'd just had placed upon me. The worry I had been feeling before the battle had completely dissipated along with the pain of the headache, and seemed like nothing more then the memories I so frequently experienced.

I came up the crest of a small hill, and looked down the other side. My heart skipped a beat. The bodies of the demons Angel and Spike had killed before were there. I had nearly found my way back!

I went quickly down the small gully, and began to ascend to the other side of the hill, hoping that the others were still there. But if they were there, would I be able to free them from whatever I had done to them? I hardly dared to breath as I finally made it up to the other side of the hill, staring across the flat expanse of grass. I let out the breath I had been holding in a mixture of disappointment, exasperation, and slight happiness.

My allies were gone. That had to mean that the freezing effect had worn off. In the blooming light I turned round on the hill, trying to gaze over each side and as far into the distance as I could see, hoping to find some trace of what direction they could have traveled in. I was tiring from the sheer length of the day, and I had no idea for how long I had been awake for, since I still was unsure how time traveled here. Even Winifred had been unsure, with two suns to tell time by.

Rays of sunlight had begun to break over the furthest mountaintops, shredding the darkness that was night into thin wisps of fading shadow. The second sun remained closed from view for the time being, but I was sure it couldn't have been far behind the first. It seemed to be genuinely peaceful in the lands here for the time being, but the nagging voice of Winifred Burkle pulled at my mind. _'Bad things happen here.'_ I could hear her saying, time and time again after her sanity had been destroyed by the constant attempts on her life in these lands.

I was not about to fall pray to gentle facades and beautiful landscapes. It was not of my nature. I forced my mind to think, to find a way to civilization again, where I could maybe find someone to torture into helping me find the others. I could not save Gunn on my own. The risks were too great, with the priests running about these lands again- I could not risk being caught trying to rescue him alone.

So instead, I pushed myself back into the Burkle persona again. My form shifted, the blue in my skin and hair faded slowly until my pigment was naught but normal mortal skin. I forced my clothing to change, back into Winifred's rags that she wore while in captivity, the collar of my suit split from the rest of the outfit, and shaped itself into a metal collar, akin to that of the one Winifred had worn. For all anyone who saw me know could tell, I was just another cow slave on their planet. This way I could enter the village under some cover, and hopefully would not be noticed as I searched for the others.

Next, I forced myself into Winifred's memory of the lands, and what direction would lead me where. To my east was the Cave. I remembered Winifred's many journeys to and from her hiding spot, where she would escape to after pilfering food supplies from the village. It was in the opposite direction that I would find it then, I was sure of it. Not really knowing why I was choosing to go about things in this manner, I began to move again, my bare feet cold in the dewy grass.

In some respects, it was similar to returning to someplace both familiar, and new at the same moment. I felt torn between myself and the shell I inhabited. Her own memories felt somehow more connected to me while I was pretending to be her, yet I knew I had never really experienced what I was seeing before this moment. I no longer felt like a God-king. I was a free being, free and stalking for freedom. Some primal force urged me on now, not for Angel and the others, but for Winifred. And suddenly, it dawned on me.

I wanted revenge.

Not for myself, but for Winifred. She had been tortured for five years by creatures no better then the dirt and leaves they chose to make their homes on. I was losing myself utterly and completely inside the Burkle persona. This had never happened to me before, and I struggled to keep control before I did something that I would come to regret. I had just managed to keep my hold on the ties that held us together, when I realized where I'd come to. The village. I was looking down over it from an outcropping of rock and hill. The layout was the same as Winifred remembered, and the people still bustled around in frenzied droves. But something had changed here. I could tell immediately. These were darker time then they had been when Winifred was enslaved. For a moment I contemplated turning back, but I had no other choice. There was nothing else I could do.

I had to press on.

**xXx

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**Author's Note: **So, there you have it then. Weird chapter huh? Don't worry, it's meant to be that way. Also, how did you guys enjoy the bit from Fred's point of view? There will be more of that in the coming chapters, as this book will relate to a lot of Fred's life before she became a part of Angel Investigations. I know a lot of you are probably really confused right now, and probably will be for the next couple of chapters, but things will begin to fall into place; I promise.


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